


Markiplier Personalities

by YamiDawn33



Category: markiplier - Fandom
Genre: Alter Egos, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Gen, did
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:13:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25987999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YamiDawn33/pseuds/YamiDawn33
Summary: Everyone knows the Markiplier egos- Wilford Warfstashe, Darkiplier, etc., but what if the term "ego" was taken literally?Mark had been diagnosed with DID, Dissociative Identity Disorder, when he was a young child, many years before his Youtube channel was even an idea. As of present day, he has eight other personalities living inside his head with him: Wilford, Ayano (Yandere in this story), Dr. Iplier, Author (the Host in this story), Google, Bim, Eric, and Dark. Only his close friends and family know of this. But, now Jack wants to come down to LA, and Ethan just recently moved to California to help Mark with his channel. How is he going to even begin to explain himself to his two friends? And how will the alters handle it?NO SEPTIPLIER OR CRANKIPLIER!! THIS STORY ISN'T FOCUSED ON SHIPPING!!Rating is subject to change and more tags will be added depending on how this story goes.
Comments: 20
Kudos: 113





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, thanks for taking the time to read! This is a brand new story idea I came up with on the fly, and was really excited about. So I acted on it and here we are! I have NO schedule for this one, so hold your butts in patience for when updates arrive!
> 
> Please, please, please comment on suggestions and criticism! I'm open to feedback! I haven't written in a long while, so I'm a bit rusty, but I want to get better! 
> 
> Again, thanks so much for taking the time to read my story, and enjoy!

“Hey, I was thinking I should go to LA and meet up with you for a week!”

Mark blinked absentmindedly. The suggestion came out of nowhere. The two of them were in between recording sessions, just chatting about what’s going on in their personal lives and just shooting the shit for once. In retrospect, Mark should’ve expected this to come up sooner or later. Los Angeles was the centerpoint for Youtube; Mark lived out here because of his job. But Sean- he still lived out in Ireland. That’s all the way across the Atlantic ocean and then some. It requires a lot of time management and planning to ship the Irishman out to California. 

So, when Jack brought it up, the first thing that came out of Mark’s mouth was: “Do you have a plan already set up?”

Mark could just hear Jack’s grin from across the Discord chat. “Heck yeah, I do! I haven’t truly committed to any of it yet, as in I haven’t bought a ticket or anything like that, but I do have a whole plan set up! I’m ready to make videos for when I’m gone from home, I can pack up whenever, plus Gab is planning on visiting her family back in Denmark, so she won’t be lonely!”

Mark gave his own warm smile. It was just like Sean to think of his girlfriend in such a way; making sure her and her health were thought of in the plans. That’s what Mark liked about Jack: caring about others as well as himself.

“I’ll have to organize some things on my end, but you’re always welcome to come on down, dude!” Mark replied on the spot, “I’m in between big projects, so nothing major should be in the way.”

Instant regret.

“Cool! Thanks, man!”

“Yeah, no problem…” How did he forget in that important moment?! How could he forget that he hadn’t told Sean about them? And how he just willingly agreed to let the man over to his house for a whole week? The thoughts swarmed his mind the entire rest of the time they were on their call. By the time the two of them hung up, an hour had passed and the thoughts were just getting worse. 

Amy found him in his recording room an hour later, sitting in his chair like a statue with his headphones on and his eyes closed and his hands in his lap. Amy knocked on the door to alert the man of her presence, her other hand holding a plate of freshly baked cookies. 

“What happened this time?” she asked. He took off his headphones, but did not move otherwise.

“Mark agreed to let Sean over for a week without thinking and became overwhelmed,” he said, “So I took over to help him calm down.” Amy sighed. She walked over and set the plate down on the table. Without hesitation, the man reached out and grabbed a cookie. He took a small nibble at it. “These are delicious,” he commented.

“Thank you, Author,” she replied. She knew exactly why Mark was so worried. Sean was one of the few people in their friend group who hadn’t been told about Mark’s condition. Amy could guess that Mark was too caught up in the moment to think about everything at once. 

Normally, she would call Tyler to come over and help handle whichever alter ego would show up, but she could handle Author. Author was one of the few alters who was calm and sensible. He was quiet most of the time and barely moved from wherever he was at the moment. He explained that if he were to need to move anywhere, he would need assistance since he was completely blind. Amy had asked once about how it was possible that Mark could see, but Author couldn’t.

“It is possible for alters to have physical differences to the host,” Author explained to her, “like how I do not have the ability to see, or Eric does not have the ability to walk.”

“Well, I know Mark has been wanting to tell Sean about it for a while now,” Amy said, taking a cookie for herself, “Is he ready?”

“That is something you will have to ask Mark yourself,” Author replied. He slowly nibbled on the cookie he had, making sure to take in every single bite. “Did you make these from scratch? There is a hint of just a pinch of extra sugar to them.”

Amy was surprised that he noticed, but it wasn’t uncommon for Author to notice such minute details. As was to his namesake, Author liked to write a lot and was well versed in descriptions and whatnot. In fact, Author was the one who helped out with Mark’s big projects, like A Date with Markipler and Who Killed Markiplier. 

“If I did, I didn’t notice,” she shrugged, “But yes, I did make these from scratch.”

Author opened his eyes, but he did not look at her. They had a certain gloss over them that seemed as if they were looking at something off in the distance; as if he could see things she couldn’t. “You are a hardworking individual, Amy. Mark is lucky to have you.” His smile was the most genuine she had ever seen off of him. She could feel a warmth grow in her chest. 

“Thank you, Author,” she said, putting her hands to her chest. He nodded and closed his eyes once more. He became silent before opening them once more, revealing eyes that shined a bright light; life flowing back into them once more. Author must’ve gone back inside Mark’s mind. His head quickly swiveled over to Amy, trying to figure out where he was and who was with him. 

“I didn’t go anywhere… Author?”

This was Mark. Over the few years that she’s been dating Mark, Amy had grown accustomed to figuring out which alter ego appeared. Each personality had its own sort of tick that distinguished one from the other. For this moment, it was what Mark said that gave it away.

“Yeah, Author said that you were freaking out, so he took over to help you calm down,” Amy explained. Mark let out a sigh that had a mix of worry and relief, as if he couldn’t decide on which he felt more of.

“I always appreciated Author for that sort of thing…” Mark muttered aloud, running a hand through his hair, “He knows when things need to settle down and level out.”

Amy patted Mark’s shoulder. “You okay now?” she asked. Mark nodded. “Yeah. Guess I got overwhelmed after what happened. I told Sean that ‘nothing major should be in the way’,” he explained. He made one of his hands into a fist and rubbed it around with the other hand; a nervous tick of Mark’s. “I said that to him! What if Wilford or Ayano, or- God forbid-”

Amy reached over and grabbed Mark’s shoulders, spinning him slightly in his work chair to have him face her. Her face was warm and reassuring, like a mother looking to her child. “It’ll be okay. Nothing bad is going to happen. The worst thing that could happen is that Sean no longer comes over to LA. I’m positive that he will still be your friend, even after meeting the others.” As she spoke, her hands slowly moved up and down, rubbing his shoulders to get Mark to relax. The tenseness in his face faded away and his body slid slightly into his chair.

“Thank you, Amy,” he said. Amy straightened. “Your welcome. Now! You have some videos to take care of, right?” she said, reminding him of what time it was. Lazily, Mark swiveled his chair over to look at the clock on his desktop. As soon as he read the time, he shot up in his chair. “Oh, fuck!” he exclaimed, “I gotta get recording quick or I’m not going to be able to walk Chica tonight!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Longer chapter today! Yay! Also, quick warning: if you're uncomfortable with hospitals or burning flesh, this chapter might be a little awkward for you. It's not awful, I swear!
> 
> Otherwise, happy reading!

The next morning, Amy woke up to a soft thud as something fell onto the floor on the other side of the bed. Normally, any other person would be worried about a noise like that, but she knew exactly what had happened. Wilford likes to wake up at the oddest times in the morning and literally roll himself out of bed. He somehow manages to do so without hurting himself every time; it’s quite a useless skill he has. The first time Amy heard that noise, she bolted up out of bed and looked Mark up and down to see if he had hurt himself. 

“Bah, it’s alright!” Wilford had explained, “I do this all the time! Don’t worry your pretty head about it!”

Amy quickly figured out how to not worry about it. It wasn’t that hard to do since Wilford was the one to wake up most days anyway. He loves being overdramatic. The least he could do would be to put down some pillows on the floor below him so that he didn’t wake her up in the morning as well.

“Good morning, Wilford,” Amy muttered, still mostly asleep. She cracked an eye open to see the man digging through their closet, looking for his favorite shirt and suspenders. No pants. Just underwear. Of course, Amy thought this was weird, but Mark was the same way- he usually did his recordings in just his underwear anyway, so it wasn’t an unusual sight on the man she was dating.

“Ah! Good morning, sunshine!” Wilford greeted cheerfully. He was sloppily buttoning his shirt up, not paying attention to which hole he put the buttons in. Amy normally had to rebutton his shirt since he almost never got it right.

“I hope I didn’t wake you up!” he continued as he finished getting himself dressed. Amy let out a soft sigh and rolled her eyes. 

“When don’t you wake me up, you goof?” she asked. Wilford took a moment to dramatically ponder over the words. He put a hand to his chin and the other hand to his elbow as he scrunched up his nose in thought.

“You make a valid point there,” he reasoned. He quickly tumbled his way over to the door, minding the dogs who were already up and ready to follow the man around the house. Amy waited until Wilford was out the door before sitting up and stretching her arms over her head. What time was it, she wondered. One glance at her phone told her it was about six o’clock. It was odd, since that was around the time that Mark would wake up. Amy slowly crawled out of bed, got dressed in some semi casual clothes, and went to the bathroom to do her morning routine before heading downstairs to see what Wilford was cooking up. Today, he was making scrambled eggs. Wilford wasn’t the worst at cooking, but he wasn’t the best either and that was okay with Amy. She also noticed that Will fed the dogs while he was down here as they were munching away at their food bowls. She knew that one of the only things all the alters could agree on was that they cared for the dogs, and Amy appreciated that quite a bit.

Amy could see that Wilford was deep in concentration while he worked on his eggs, so she made sure not to sneak up on him. He was one of the alters that when startled, would fight instead of flight and she didn’t want to get hurt with a super hot pan with egg parts all over it. So, instead, she casually walked over to the cupboards, grabbed a cup, and walked back over to the fridge to get some fresh water from the water filterator they store inside. As she poured herself some water, she struck up a conversation with the man next to her.

“Scrambled eggs today, huh?” Amy asked as she put the jug of water back into the fridge. Wilford turned to her and gave her a great, big grin. “Why, of course, my dear! I figured something simple today would suffice!”

“You feeling okay?” she then asked, placing her cup down on the counter next to her, “You woke up later than usual. And, you normally go all out for breakfast.”

“Ah, yes, well, I suppose I might be a little.. Under the radar, as you would say.” he tried to explain, starting to lose interest in the still cooking eggs next to him, “What would really help me is if you would let me have that nice looking knife Mark likes to leave next to the bed-”

“The answer is no, Wilford,” Amy frowned, crossing her arms across her chest, “Last time you played with bed knife, Henry wouldn’t come near Mark for weeks.”

“I didn’t realize just how bendable it was!” he exclaimed, crossing his arms in a huff.

“You chucked it at the wall.”

“I was testing its aerodynamicity!”

“Henry was right next to the wall where you threw it!”

“I didn’t see the poor dog there, I swear! It was an accident!”

Amy let out a long sigh in response, putting a hand to her temple as she shook her head in defeat. It was only then did she smell something burning, followed by the smoke alarms going off, making the dogs whine and bark loudly. Both Amy and Wilford snapped their attention to the stove, which was smoking up a storm. 

“The eggs!!” Wilford cried in despair. He quickly reached out to the pan with bare hands and carried it over to the sink, not caring about how hot the pan was or how the smoke was being blown directly into his face. Amy didn’t have enough time to notice, as she was busy rushing off to the windows and fans to try to ventilate the house as best as she could. Before long, the smoke cleared, and the alarm stopped blaring. The dogs finally calmed down and the house was engulfed in an eerie silence.

Before Amy had a chance to speak, Wilford let out a little whine. “Amy, my hands hurt for some reason…” he cried softly. When Amy took a closer look, she let out a soft gasp. The man’s hands were covered in red blisters and burns. His hands were shaking slightly in pain as Wilford held them out for her to see. 

“Will, you burned your hands!” she exclaimed.

“Should I run them through some water?” he asked, already heading towards the sink. Amy grabbed his shoulder before he could make it all the way to his destination.

“No, that will only make it worse!” she explained. She dragged him out towards the living room, and told him to sit on the couch and not touch anything until she came back. He gave her a little solute, followed by a small wince as he lowered his hand back down to his lap. Amy quickly dashed upstairs, grabbing a pair of pants and Mark’s cellphone. She then dashed back downstairs, items in tow. As much as she hated the idea, she helped Will put on his pants (of course, he complained the whole time, but she wouldn’t listen to any of it), and dragged the man towards the door.

“Oh, where are we going?” he asked, practically ignoring the throbbing pain in his fingers and palms. 

Amy reached over and grabbed their car keys as she slid on some shoes. “I’m taking you to the hospital,” she quickly explained, “We need to get that taken care of right away!”

“Alright, then who’s that coming up to the door?” he asked, pointing with an open palm towards the window. One quick peek and Amy could immediately tell that it was their friend, Ethan. Amy swore under her breath, promptly ignoring Wilford’s mini rant about how a lady shouldn’t swear under her breath. She had forgotten that Mark and Ethan were going to record some videos together today and that Ethan wanted to head over to their house early since he had plans afterwards. Not that she could do anything about that now, since one of them injured themselves. Her main problem is that this was Wilford, not Mark, and Ethan didn’t know about the alters like Sean. 

“Please slip some shoes on,” Amy told Wilford, ignoring his question. He shrugged, not caring too much about it, and proceeded to do as instructed. Just before Ethan could even touch the door, Amy swung it open. He was a little startled, not expecting the door to just open like that.

“Jeez, Amy, you scared me!” Ethan exclaimed. 

Amy shook her head. “I’m sorry, Ethan, but something came up. I gotta take Mark to the hospital.”

Ethan gasped, thinking the worst. “What happened?!” he asked, completely full of worry for his friend, “Is Mark okay?”

“Kinda, yeah. He accidentally burnt his hands real bad,” she tried to explain, taking quick glances between her friend at the door and behind her. She was hoping and praying that Wilford wouldn’t randomly pop out of nowhere like he likes to do and announce himself in front of Ethan. Her and Mark weren’t ready for that just yet.

“Oh, shit!” Ethan grimaced, feeling sympathy pains. He paused for a split second before asking, “Can I come with? I want to make sure he’s okay.”

Before Amy could even reply, Wilford popped in behind her. “I got my shoes on- oh!” he looked over Amy’s shoulder, seeing the young man standing at the door all worried. “Well, hello there, stranger! What’s got you all bothered?” he asked. 

Amy quickly turned around and glared at Will. “Not now,” she hissed under her breath, just loud enough for the man to hear, “We need to go-”

“Amy, please,” Ethan begged, “Surely I can help out!”

“Yeah, sunshine!” Wilford agreed, “Let him help out! Wait, with what?”

“Alright, fine, get in the car, let’s go!” Amy exclaimed, ushering the two boys out of the house. Amy quickly locked the door and herded the two men to the car, making sure to have Will in the passenger seat so she could keep a close eye on him. One slip up and Mark might actually kill the alter ego. 

Amy helped buckle Wilford in before buckling herself in and starting the car. Of course, the first thing that came out of his mouth was: “Do I have to wear this?”

“Yes, Mark,” she answered, putting emphasis on the name being used, “You know that.”

Ethan sat quietly in the back of the car, semi confused as to what was going on. Why was Mark talking weirdly? He kind of sounded like he was playing as his pink mustached ego, Wilford Warfstashe. Was Mark practicing for some sketch Ethan hadn’t been told about yet?

The start of the drive was pretty noisy, with Wilford constantly talking about whatever came to mind. Finally, he started to say something that wasn’t supposed to be said with Ethan around.

“You know, Amy, I heard from Mark that there’s this cool place downtown that lets you break and bash stuff in what he called a “safe environment”,” he explained, trying to give air quotes without moving his hands too much, “Maybe you could take Ayano and I-”

“Stop,” Amy hissed, “right there. No more talking, got it?” Her tone was so serious, that even Ethan clammed up, and he wasn’t even talking. The youngest of the three looked between the two in front of him in confusion, his eyebrows furrowed together in worry. He had never heard Amy use that kind of tone to Mark before. Were they fighting? Ethan had never heard of them fighting, outside of a little spat here or there, but that was normal in any relationship. This sounded different from a normal spat. Did something happen between the two of them? Is it why Mark burned his hands? And- and who was this “Ayano” Mark was talking about? Was it a new girl Mark found? Maybe she was why Amy and Mark were fighting- No, best not to jump the gun until he had more facts on the matter.

The rest of the ride was pure silence, excluding the soft hum of the engine and the roaring of cars and other vehicles driving next to them. It took them a little longer than Amy would’ve liked, but they finally made it to the hospital. Amy drove up to the emergency entrance and hopped out of the car.

“Ethan,” she called out as she opened the passenger side door and unbuckled Wilford, “please park the car. I would greatly appreciate it.”

Ethan nodded without hesitation. He quickly unbuckled himself from his seat and swung one of the back doors open, slamming it shut before opening the driver door and climbing in. Amy had already dragged Wilford through the hospital doors before Ethan could even take the car out of park.

Amy ushered Wilford through the doors and up to the reception desk, where a nurse seemed to be typing away at a computer in front of her. 

“Hello, Mark burned his hands real bad,” Amy explained, “I think they might be second degree burns. She carefully reached out and grabbed Wilford’s arms, pulling them up to the nurse's eye level so she could see the damage. The nurse nodded and began to ask a series of questions: name, birthdate, address, insurance, all that sort of stuff. Before long, Ethan came in and sat with the two as they waited a moment for an open room.

“What happened?” Ethan asked, finally breaking the silence.

“Uh, Mark was making eggs and they started smoking, so he grabbed the pan without gloves and rushed it over to the sink,” she explained honestly. 

“It was an accident!” Wilford stated, defending himself, “I was distracted and in a rush! I didn’t want the eggs to start on fire and hurt my sunshine here!”

“So, why didn’t you grab the handle of the pan?” Ethan asked.

Wilford pursed his lips together. “I forgot.”

A nurse walked in and called for Mark. Wilford and Amy stood up and walked to the nurse and followed her into a room where, after taking some tests and asking some normal questions, a doctor walked in. She took a look at the burns as well, clearly diagnosing them as second degree burns.

“Do you have oven mitts at home?” the doctor asked, washing her hands and sliding gloves on.

Amy nodded, “Yes, we keep a pair in the drawers next to the stove.”

Wilford rolled his eyes. “This isn’t the worst thing that’s happened to us. We had to go through surgery TWICE! We had a heart attack-”

“Will, honey, we get it,” Amy said, interrupting him.

Wilford huffed, wanting to cross his arms, but the nurse prevented him from doing so by holding his hands in place. Amy was glad these two were open to treat them- only a few doctors and even fewer nurses in the hospital knew about Mark’s other personalities and how to take care of them. They probably knew Wilford more than Mark by this point, what with all the accidents he and Ayano get into.

The doctor grabbed some cream and gently placed some of it on Will’s hands. He winced, trying to pull back, but the nurse kept him in place. He looked at Amy and she gave him a look that said “be a big man”. So, he straightened and composed himself, taking the pain with full force. Within minutes, the cream was covering all the burns on Will’s hands. The doctor quickly replaced her gloves with new, clean ones before reaching into the cupboards and grabbing some gauze. She wrapped Will’s hands and individual fingers, so that he could still use his hands, and tapped them down so that they wouldn’t fall apart.

“They aren’t too terrible,” she explained, taking off the gloves once more. She nodded at the nurse, who nodded back and let go of Wilford’s hands. The first thing he tried to do with his new freedom was to tighten his hands into fists, but he winced and whined due to the pain and barely being able to move them thanks to the wraps. “I’ll prescribe him some ointment to take until the burns heal. He’ll be fine so long as he doesn’t pick at the blisters and puts the ointment on twice a day: right when he wakes up and just before bed,” the doctor continued. She quickly typed at her computer as she spoke, creating the prescription for Mark.

“Thank you, doctor,” Amy smiled.

“Ah, yes, thank you, kind ma’am!” Wilford thanked, bowing his head.

“If the blisters get worse, or you start to feel light headed, please call us right away,” she instructed Wilford, then looked to Amy for confirmation. They both nodded. After a few more minutes, the doctor and nurse left the room, saying they’re free to go.

“Will, I need Mark back please,” Amy instructed, waiting until the door clicked shut before saying anything.

Wilford pouted, but before long, Mark blinked his eyes.

“Where- are we in a hospital?” he asked, looking around in confusion.

Amy sighed. “I’m sorry, Mark,” she explained, “but Wilford burned his hands real bad, so I rushed you here to get them treated.”

Mark looked down at his hands, wincing as the pain had finally been registered in his mind.

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Amy tried to reassure him, “That’s what the doctor said, at least.”

Mark stared at his hands for another moment before looking back up at Amy. “I really don’t think I want to know how it happened, but why did you need me? Did the doctor need me specifically for anything?” he asked.

Amy shook her head. “No. The problem is that Ethan came with us to the hospital.”

Mark froze. His whole body stiffened. “He- he what?!” he stuttered, “Did he-?!”

“Yes, he talked to Wilford. Not that he knew it was Wilford. We didn’t tell him yet.”

The Youtuber let out an annoyed sigh. It was only then did he remember that he and Ethan were supposed to record some videos today and the youngest on their team was going to arrive early to Mark’s house since he had business in the afternoon.

“I told everyone the plan, but Wilford woke up instead of me anyway…” Mark grumbled.

“Do you know why?” Amy asked.

Mark tried to run a hand through his hair, but stopped as a little pain ran through his fingers. “Not really? I don’t think it’s really a big deal,” he explained. He tried his best to make eye contact with his girlfriend, but for some reason it was really hard to at the moment.

For a moment, Amy wanted to ask, since she noticed the effort in eye contact, but she decided to keep silent about it for now. “Alright. Well, he’s still waiting out in the waiting room; he drove with us after all,” she said, standing up and grabbing her belongings. Mark nodded, standing along with her. The two walked out of the room, down the hall, and out into the waiting room. Ethan was still sitting where he was last left, a leg crossed over the other as he impatiently played around on his phone. As soon as the doors clicked open, his head snapped up to the sound. 

“Mark! Are you okay? Did you get patched up? Was it bad?” he asked, quickly bouncing out of his chair and rushing over to the two like a small puppy. 

Mark held his hands out in defense. “Woah, hey, it’s okay!” he explained, “Doc said that I’ll be fine, you don’t need to worry.”

Ethan let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good to hear.”

Amy smiled. “Let’s head home then. I’ll drop you two off at home so you can get to work, and then I’ll swing by and get your prescription,” she decided. The two males nodded in agreement, and they all headed out to the car.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried my best to make this seem as realistic as possible, but I recently had to move into the dorms at college and classes just started, so my brain has been everywhere as of late. So, please please please tell me if something seems wrong and I will try to fix it as soon as possible. 
> 
> Also please keep in mind I have no personal experience with anyone who has DID and I am no professional. I've done some basic research, but that's about it. I know this is just meant to be a fun fanfic, but I also know this is a sensitive topic so I don't want to make anyone mad or discredit anyone because of some terrible writing I made. 
> 
> That aside, please enjoy this chapter!

Ethan finally came to the conclusion that Mark was somehow cheating on Amy with this supposed “Ayno” chick. It still made no sense to Ethan, however. He knew the Korean-American man; he would never cheat on anyone. Mark and Amy had way too close of a relationship for something like that to happen. And Ethan had never heard of anyone named “Ayano” before- so how would Mark had kept her a secret up until now? And how did Amy find out before Ethan did? There were so many questions left unanswered in Ethan’s little head, and after a week with them stirring in his head, he had to get to the bottom of it.

Luckily for him, Mark asked him over to his house to work on some video editing together. It would be the perfect time to ask Mark one on one about what exactly was going on and get to the bottom of everything.

Ethan grabbed all his supplies, put his pet dog, Spencer, in the back of the car, and drove down to Mark’s house. The young man gripped at the steering wheel with sweaty palms as he drove down the busy Los Angeles highways. What if he was right? How would Mark take it? Would he fire Ethan? Ethan’s chest tightened at the thought, his teeth grinding against each other. He hoped not. He really hoped that it was a complete misunderstanding on his own part. That Mark wasn’t actually cheating on Amy and that this “Ayano” woman was some family member of Mark’s that Ethan wasn’t aware of that maybe Amy didn’t like. Yeah, let’s hope for that.

Ethan sat in his car for a moment longer than he intended. His heart was in his throat and he just couldn’t get it back down. Spencer whined a little behind him. Ethan took in a breath he didn’t know he was holding in.

“Thanks, Spense,” Ethan spoke breathlessly, reaching out and giving the dog a couple of pats on the head. Spencer let out a little happy yip in response. Finally, Ethan opened the door and crawled out of the driver’s seat. He slammed the door shut as he opened the back seat door to let his dog out. He hopped out with his tail wagging, but he didn’t jump out too fast. The two walked up to the door and entered the house, not even bothering to knock. Amy and Mark had left the front door open, knowing Ethan was coming over. 

As if on queue, Chica came dashing up to Ethan and Spencer, excited to see friends. Of course, Henry was right behind her, like the shy pup he was. Ethan expected this, but what he didn’t expect was to see Mark and Amy sitting at the dining table with solemn faces. They looked up at Ethan at the same time, not a word spoken as they gestured to the open chair next to them. Ethan swallowed. Did they figure out that he figured out about the cheating? Were they about to sit him down and fire him? His worry began to build back up once more as he awkwardly shifted to sit down in the chair.

“Ethan, Mark and I have been talking,” Amy started, “and we decided that it’s finally time we tell you something very important-”

Ethan slammed his hands on the table. “I knew it!!” he exclaimed, “You guys found out that I figured out that Mark was cheating on you, Amy, and now you’re gonna fire me!!”

Saying that Mark and Amy were completely speechless was a complete understatement. It had taken a moment for Amy to even comprehend the word vomit Ethan puked up, and Mark even longer so. 

“I’m gonna kill Wilford,” Mark muttered under his breath.

“Ethan, Mark isn’t cheating on me and we’re not going to fire you,” Amy explained.

Ethan blinked. “You… You’re not?” He let out a loud sigh of relief, sliding down into his chair as he let his body finally relax. “Good, because I was so worried that I wasn’t able to sleep last night. I was certain that you guys were going to fire me!!”

Mark rolled his eyes. “Nah, I ain’t gonna fire you, Ethan. You’re too good at your job to do that,” he explained, a sincere smile being worn as he spoke. It certainly gave Ethan reassurance. But as soon as that smile dropped, Ethan tensed up once more.

“No, but this is a serious conversation. And it has nothing to do with you,” Mark continued, “So please, let us explain and have an open mind as we do, okay? That’s all I ask.”

Ethan stared long and hard at Mark. He had never seen the man so worried and panicked before. This wasn’t horror game panic, this was genuine worry. Whatever Mark was about to tell him, it was dead serious. The young man took a moment to compose himself.

“... Alright. I will,” he nodded.

Amy nodded back, “Thank you, Ethan. This actually has to do with what happened last week when Mark burned his hands. You… noticed that Mark was acting a little off, correct?”

Ethan slowly nodded, glancing over at Mark before looking back at Amy. “I just thought that maybe he was practicing for a skit?” he shrugged.

Mark shook his head. “There’s no new skit going on at the moment. That was all genuine, as much as I hate to admit it,” Mark explained slowly, as if choosing his words carefully. The man looked as if he were waiting for someone to pop out of thin air and spook the shit out of him.

“But, isn’t Wilford a-”

Amy quickly cut Ethan off. “Wilford is and isn’t a real person. He’s one of Mark’s personalities,” she explained. Both Amy and Ethan looked over at Mark, who seemed to be in his own little world at the moment. His fingers were twitching on top of the table, his eyes staring off into space as his mouth moved around to silently speak to someone who wasn’t there.

“Personalities?” Ethan echoed.

“Mark… Mark has DID,” Amy answered softly, almost under her breath.

“Dissociative Identity Disorder.”

“Yes. Mark was diagnosed years ago when he was a young child. Wilford is one of his alter egos.”

Ethan took a second to process the information. There was a long pause in the house, the only sound being the small click clacks of the dogs’ paws on the tiled floors.

“Wait a minute. So, the character, Wilford Warfstache, is actually one of Mark’s personalities? And he was the one who burned his hands last week?” Ethan asked, trying to clarify.

“Yes,” Amy nodded, “Wilford is exactly like the character, minus the murderous intentions. He can be eccentric and spacious, but he’s honestly not that bad of a guy-”

“Damn right, I’m not!” Mark suddenly shouted, slamming his hands on the table, followed by a soft cry in pain. Amy reached out to help him with his wounds, which Mark obliged. “I am most certainly the most fun out of all of us here!”

“Okay, sweetheart, we understand,” Amy chuckled, patching up Mark’s hands.

Ethan bounced back slightly, startled by the sudden noises. But, once he relaxed, he was completely dumbfounded by the sudden change. He blinked absentmindedly as he stared at who was supposedly his friend and his boss. “T-this is-?”

“This is Wilford, yes,” Amy answered, already knowing Ethan’s question. “Will, this is Ethan, one of Mark’s friends. You met him already when you went to the hospital after you burned your hands, remember?” she asked Wilford.

The man hummed to himself for a moment, trying to recall the memory. “Oh, yes! Now I remember! You were really mad at me that day, that’s why I remember it so well,” Wilford explained. 

“I was only mad because everything was happening at once and I became overly stressed too fast,” Amy explained. 

“It’s okay, sunshine,” Wilford smiled. Amy finished with Wilford’s hands, setting them gently down on the table before placing hers back on her lap. She then turned back to Ethan.

“Back to the topic at hand, aside from Mark, there are eight other personalities. There’s Wilford, which you already met-” Ethan nodded, agreeing with Amy’s words, “But there’s another ego you’ve heard of, which might help explain the confusion you had when you first arrived today: her name is Ayano.”

“Ayano is one of Mark’s alters?” Ethan exclaimed, his eyes going wide. That explained so much; how Ethan had never met her before, why Amy was so mad when Mark- no Wilford brought her up, all of it! He never met her because she was an alter Mark hid away from his friend, and Amy was mad because they were trying to keep the alters under wraps. 

But wait. That begs the question.

“But why didn’t you tell me before? And why now?” Ethan asked.

“Mark-” Amy starts, before rudely being cut off by Wilford.

“Mark is too scared that people will hate him if they find out he has what we like to sometimes call “roommates” in his head. We have our own rooms, it’s great! Mine is filled with pink everything! Oh, but Ayano seems to think that her room has more pink, but I would like to state that her room is more red than pink!”

Amy patted Wilford’s back. “Okay, Wilford, we get it.” She turned back to Ethan and said, “Wilford is right, though, when he said Mark is scared that people will hate him if they find out he has DID. I couldn’t even begin to explain how he was when he told me- he was an honest to God mess.”

Ethan couldn’t even imagine. He’s never been able to picture the fun loving, smart Youtuber to be so depressed that he starts crying uncontrollably. Yes, he knew Mark can get depressed, all humans have their moments. But, Ethan never realized that he had never actually thought about it before; Mark full out crying under such circumstances.

“Okay, it’s… It’s going to take me a little bit to get used to, obviously,” Ethan said, after a moment of silence, “but I don’t see it as a reason to end a friendship over. Does that make sense?”

Amy nodded. “I had the same reaction, don’t worry. Right, Wilford- Wilford?”

The two hadn’t noticed until then that Wilford had disappeared from the table completely. Amy stood up from her chair. She called out for him, but no one responded for a good moment. 

“Ah, shit, I hope he didn’t get outside…!” Amy groaned, heading towards the front door. Ethan stood up as well, but headed towards the back yard. There, he found Wilford in the pool, swimming around like he had been there all day. The dogs were outside with him, playing around in the yard. 

“Amy, he’s in the back!” Ethan called out to her from the back porch. Wilford popped his head out of the water just then and exclaimed, “Ah, why don’t you join me, Ethan? It is a great day for a swim!”

Ethan walked out closer to the pool. Upon closer inspection, he saw that Wilford was still wearing his clothes he had been wearing at the table while they were talking. He didn’t bother to take anything off; he had simply walked into the pool with all his clothes on.

“Uh, sorry, dude. I didn’t bring my swimsuit,” Ethan declined, holding his hands up in front of him. 

“Nonsense! A good, refreshing dip is all you need!” Wilford exclaimed. Amy came running to the other end of the house, letting out a loud, annoyed sigh once she arrived.

“Dammit, Wilford! We talked about this!!” she cried out, storming up to the side of the pool, “You can’t go running off like that without telling anyone!”

Ethan watched in silence as Amy scolded her boyfriend, fully clothed in his own pool, while the dogs walked up and waggled their tails next to Amy. Spencer walked up to Ethan, hiding behind him as Amy continued to scold Wilford. “It’s okay, buddy,” he told Spence, giving him a soft pat on the head, “I’m sure we can figure all this out.”


End file.
